Athletic s hoes having detachable spikes have been known in the industry for a significant period of time. In most cases the spikes are detachable for purposes of replacement. As the user wears a spike or cleated shoe, the spikes eventually are worn down and become ineffective. This phenomena is particularly common with golfing shoes particularly in view that many golf courses preclude metal spikes and demand the use of plastic spikes.
In fact the design of golfing spikes has been altered so dramatically, the use of the word "spike" is no longer an accurate description of the device connected to the shoe. The "spikes" currently used on many golf shoes would be better described as a cleat. The cleats used on golf shoes today do not extend a great distance from the bottom of the sole and in many cases resemble flat disks having a plurality of ridges or posts thereon. The ridges and posts are relatively shallow, and as they are constructed of plastic, tend to wear very quickly. It is not uncommon for a player's cleats to require changing before the completion of an 18 hole round of golf.
The most common method of attaching and detaching plastic cleats to the bottom of a golf shoe is with the use of a threaded post connected to the cleat which is received in a threaded receptacle formed in the sole of the shoe. Special tools are used to screw in the cleats, and later unscrew the cleat 5 and remove the cleat 5 by the user. As cleats tend to wear uniformly, the operation of removing cleats from the bottom of a player's shoe can be very time consuming. Existing screw cleats sometimes strip their thread thus impairing removal. Threaded cleats are also notorious for coming loose during use. Time unfortunately is not something that an athlete has a great deal of while playing. An athlete may only have two or three minutes to change out his spikes during a game. Unfortunately current methods and tools for changing spikes may require as much as a half an hour of change time.
This inventor has conducted a search to determine what, if any, prior art exists relative to detachable cleats. The search revealed some patents for detachable cleats or spikes and also revealed patents for shoes having retractable spikes. The patents produced by this search are listed as follows:
______________________________________ U.S. PAT. NO. INVENTOR ______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. 2,118,113 to Schemel U.S. Pat. No. 2,668,373 to Russo U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,336 to Herro U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,729 to Buchanen, III U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,434 to Chein U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,300 to Kass U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,210 to Sink U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,080 to Davis U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,494 to Ricker U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,565 to Balgin U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,589 to Jordan U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,615 to Korsen U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,857 to Ouellette, et al. ______________________________________